#laudatosi #intergralecology #theletter
After a substantial critique of our “technocratic paradigm” in chapter three, Pope Francis now presents an alternative vision capable of addressing every aspect of the global crisis. Pope Francis calls this vision an “integral ecology.” This might feel like an odd phrase for a Christian leader to use, but it manifests a theme that he’s been repeating throughout the encyclical. That theme, rooted in Christian theology (see chapter two) and now in environmental studies, is that everything is connected and interrelated.
Another way of putting it is that when scientists look at the way nature works (from big concepts like time and space to the smallest realities of study like subatomic particles), they do not see things acting independent from each other. They instead see relationships (and network of relationships) between living organisms and their environment. Although we usually function without being aware of it, we always depend on larger systems for our own existence (138-140). This relational aspect of nature causes scientists then to seek only comprehensive and integrated explanations or solutions.
Chapter four unpacks what this comprehensive, integrated, and relational vision might look like if we applied its principles to our complex, global crises. The whole chapter is filled with examples of realities usually considered in isolation but should rather be brought together and seen in a more comprehensive, integral view:
 The relationship of global economics with local cultures, customs, and values (143-146)
 The relationship between our living spaces (like the architecture of our homes and the design of our neighborhoods and cities), our daily life, and our own behavior/happiness (147-154)
 The relationship of the way we think about our bodies and the way we think about the rest of creation (155)
 The relationship of our current generation with future generations (159-162)
This chapter leaves the reader thinking that solutions to our global crises can no longer be credible that do not respect the relational and integral realities that are part of the way things
work. For Pope Francis, the only solution is one that “demands an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature” (139).
Reflection Question: How does seeing everything as connected change the way you see the world? Do you see your happiness related to others’? Do you see the way your choices affect the quality of others? Make a couple choices this week that more deeply honor the interrelated reality of the world.

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